I suppose this is a grey-market body. So just curious. How does Canon treat grey-market items here in the US? I am a Nikon shooter, and I know you would be out of luck if your grey-market Nikon gear requires repair. Nikon does not repair them, and does not even provide 3rd party repair shops with the parts needed to repair.

So I am curious if Canon is the same way, or if they don't have any problem repairing grey-market gear (when paid by customer, as I assume they don't provide any warranty anyway)?

cambyses wrote:
I suppose this is a grey-market body. So just curious. How does Canon treat grey-market items here in the US? I am a Nikon shooter, and I know you would be out of luck if your grey-market Nikon gear requires repair. Nikon does not repair them, and does not even provide 3rd party repair shops with the parts needed to repair.

So I am curious if Canon is the same way, or if they don't have any problem repairing grey-market gear (when paid by customer, as I assume they don't provide any warranty anyway)?

Judging by their feedback, these are probably used grey-market goods, so their likely isn't much warranty to worry about...

molson wrote:
Judging by their feedback, these are probably used grey-market goods, so their likely isn't much warranty to worry about...

They are claimed to be New. But, yes, they are most likely grey-market. My question was not about warranty though. I already assumed there will be no warranty. However, in case of Nikon, even without any warranty, Nikon will still refuse to repair grey-market gear even when you are willing to pay for any repairs. And I am just wondering if Canon is the same way or not.

Canon USA is not the same as Nikon USA in this regard. Not only will Canon work on grey-market bodies (for a fee), by many online accounts Canon will also honor the warranty for grey-market USA bodies, accepting a receipt from a non-authorized Canon reseller as proof-of-date purchase. Naturally there aren't any guarantees on that latter aspect.

I called them this morning and I was informed that they have both Grey and US version available. What worries me is that you will not know what you got until they ship it and I firmly believe any buyer will get the Gray market version.

Yes, it is highly unlikely that they be allowed to sell a US version at this price. That is the whole point of authorized dealers so Canon/Nikon can have control over their pricing.

But based on the info shared on this thread, looks like the risk is much lower for you Canon shooters than Nikon shooters. At least you guys have a chance that Canon honor the warranty for you, or in the worst case, at least make any needed repairs at your cost. Nikon shooters will be out of luck with grey market gear. Last week I was in Nikon Service in LA, and there was this poor lady literally begging that they repair the two lenses she had brought and they just refused, and when she asked which 3rd party repair center she could take the lenses to, they said they cannot recommend any particular repair shop.

cambyses wrote:
Yes, it is highly unlikely that they be allowed to sell a US version at this price. That is the whole point of authorized dealers so Canon/Nikon can have control over their pricing.
They can still be USA versions but just distributed via back channels. I bought a 5DM3 from BigValue a year ago for about the same price and it was a USA body with a USA warranty card. My guess is these bodies are sold to grey-market distributors by authorized dealers looking to clear excess inventory. It's just a guess but it happens a lot in other tech industries.

cambyses wrote:
Last week I was in Nikon Service in LA, and there was this poor lady literally begging that they repair the two lenses she had brought and they just refused, and when she asked which 3rd party repair center she could take the lenses to, they said they cannot recommend any particular repair shop.
Yep, that's Nikon.

Well, it sure is nice of Canon, but I can hardly blame Nikon on that. They may have other customer support issues (e.g., D600 debacle), but on this particular issue, I think it is fair and understandable that they would want to discourage grey-market sales. I think the problem is with some retailers when they don't explicitly indicate their item as grey-market, and even worse, sometime outright lie to their customers by promising Nikon USA warranty. And when the customers find out later when they are in need of service, they get pissed at Nikon. Nikon always has their official list of US authorized dealers on their website and they always keep it updated. The current one is published on Feb 6th: http://www.nikonusa.com/en_US/IMG/Images/Corporate/Where-to-Buy/Nikon_Authorized_Dealers.pdf
So, in my opinion, smart buyers should always check this list before making their purchase, and if they want to save some $$ by buying a grey-market item, they should understand the risk.

so my 6D has issue just after warranty ran out. Grey market 6D due to me being stationed overseas. Canon still serviced my 6D. Fixed and cleaned for free. Over the phone, they told me Canon is Canon no matter where you buy it from

ggOk wrote:
so my 6D has issue just after warranty ran out. Grey market 6D due to me being stationed overseas. Canon still serviced my 6D. Fixed and cleaned for free. Over the phone, they told me Canon is Canon no matter where you buy it from

/r
Andy

Well, I have heard Nikon USA would also service your gear if you can prove (I suppose with your receipt) that you have personally bought your Nikon from an authorized dealer overseas, i.e., grey-market restrictions only apply when you buy a grey-market item here in the US.

cambyses wrote:
Well, I have heard Nikon USA would also service your gear if you can prove (I suppose with your receipt) that you have personally bought your Nikon from an authorized dealer overseas, i.e., grey-market restrictions only apply when you buy a grey-market item here in the US.

Sometimes Nikon USA wont even service Nikon USA equipment under warranty, due to fallacious claims of impact damage. I understand you're trying to be balanced in your view but my experience with Nikon and many other accounts I've read online indicate a company that does whatever it can to avoid fulfilling its obligations.

If you take the time to look at some of their feedback, you may notice that a lot of the stuff this outfit sells as "new" is actually used/returned equipment, so whether it's grey market or not, there will likely be no Canon warranty.

There are a lot of nice used Canon products on eBay, from reputable sellers - I wonder why they don't get promoted here? Are these eBay resellers paying referral commissions now?

I have the same question that molson asked and hopefully Fred will respond. Does FM get referral commissions? And if so are they legit sellers? And if so how is this determined?

I just purchased the 5D MKIII from 6ave based on being posted by Fred Miranda on Feb 18. They state in there auction that they usually ship within one business day of cleared payment. Well it is now Feb 22 and my camera still has not shipped. They posted a tracking # on eBay on Feb 20 which was invalid, so I emailed them and they responded with a correct tracking number on Feb 21. But it turns out they have registered the package with UPS from their office but have not delivered it to UPS. So this has me worried.

So FM should really do their research before giving any referrals to any business. I myself am deeply disturbed by the potential influence capitalized marketing has on such open web journalism/information sharing.

cambyses wrote:
They are claimed to be New. But, yes, they are most likely grey-market. My question was not about warranty though. I already assumed there will be no warranty. However, in case of Nikon, even without any warranty, Nikon will still refuse to repair grey-market gear even when you are willing to pay for any repairs. And I am just wondering if Canon is the same way or not.

Copying from an ealrier post in another thread:

I bought a grey market 5D3 from eBay (it did not come with a US warranty card). I called Canon USA to ask them if it would be covered under warranty, and this is what they told me:

1. If you bought the camera new in the US and have a receipt to prove it, we will very likely provide warranty service for the item, even if the seller is not an authorized Canon reseller.

2. The warranty ONLY applies to the first owner. If you buy a camera with US warranty used on these forums, as the second owner you will NOT be covered under the warranty even though the camera was originally purchased new from an authorized US reseller.

Canon USA has provided warranty service on grey market cameras to me in the past without any issues. They fixed a broken dial on my EOS 5 (film) camera even though the 5 was never officially sold in the US.

Bottom line: if you can find a great deal on a new grey market camera, buy it. There is a very small chance Canon may not service it under warranty, but the hundreds you potentially save more than offsets the risk in my opinion.

I would also assume that Canon would fix/service gray market cameras that were out of their warranty period and would charge you for the service, no matter how you acquired the camera. Canon USA is nothing like Nikon.

cambyses wrote:
Well, I have heard Nikon USA would also service your gear if you can prove (I suppose with your receipt) that you have personally bought your Nikon from an authorized dealer overseas, i.e., grey-market restrictions only apply when you buy a grey-market item here in the US.

If you bought a Nikon camera in Singapore that was intended for sale in Singapore from an authorized Nikon dealer (or a USA Nikon camera in the US from an official reseller) and can prove it with a receipt, a Nikon service center in any country (where Nikon had a presence) would technically be required to honor the warranty. Wether such a warranty is actually enforceable in some parts of the world is questionable, though I can't see it bening an issue in the US.